Short stories or Real life experience that jog your mind to keep your spirits healthy.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Decisions - The right one

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use
while the other unused. Only one child played on the unused track, the rest on
the operational track. The train came, and you were just beside the track
interchange. You could make the train change its course to the unused track and
save most of the kids.

However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the unused track would
be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make................

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only
one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Initially, I too thought exactly in the same way. To save most of the children at the expense of only one child was a rational decision that most people would make, morally and emotionally.

But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the unused track
had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place? Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose
to play where the danger was.

This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in
politics and in a democratic society, especially the minority is often
sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant
the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are.

The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was
sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one! would shed a tear for him.

One of my friends said that he would not try to change the
course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational
track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they
should have run away if they heard the train's sirens. He also added that if the train was diverted, the lone child would definitely die because he
never would have thought that a train could come over to that track!

Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers
on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one
child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be
made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

"Remember that what's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't
always right."